I was listening to a programme on the radio at lunch time yesterday when there was a discussion on social evils. This was prompted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who are conducting a survey on social evils in order to direct their work over the next 10 years.

The first caller to the programme made a very good case for inequality in society being one of the major social evils.

The amount of inequality from it’s richest members to the poorest in society is correlated to many severe problem. In health, heart disease and cancer are both higher in countries with greater levels of inequality, along with other medical problems. Also related are increased levels of crime and drug abuse.

So, even though we are much better off in absolute terms than we were a century ago when Joseph Rowntree set up his trusts, our societies in the UK and the US have problems.

We are less healthy and have more crime and other issues than countries with less inequality. And this may well be getting worse: inequality has shown a striking increase in recent years.